


The Sitters

by babyblueglasses



Series: Simmer and Boil [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Babysitting, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, M/M, the children talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:00:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8949271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babyblueglasses/pseuds/babyblueglasses
Summary: Loki babysits with Tony for the first time and realizes that things may be different than he'd assumed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A special thanks to IzHunny who put this idea in my head a very long time ago at the end of Simmer and Boil. I've wanted to write it since then and am glad it's finally come together. 
> 
> You could probably get by without reading the series, but this isn't really meant to be read alone. This is also an AU of an AU? XD This discussion was different in Forge and Weld and this chapter is a bonus/alternate ending sort of story. ;) 
> 
> Enjoy!

For the first time, Loki was watching Azalea at his place instead of Thor and Jane’s. 

With Tony.

Somehow, it’d made more logistical sense for Thor and Jane to drop her at the house, rather than having Loki out to theirs. Loki would’ve talked them out of it, but Tony had been there when they’d offered and he’d accepted so fast that Loki was speechless. So she was here, while her parents were out for dinner and a movie. 

Loki shook the rattle in his hand as Azalea reached for it from his lap. He had one arm wrapped securely around her middle as she made grabbing motions towards the toy, fascinated by the sound it created. 

Tony had run off to one of the spare bedrooms to find a blanket for her to play on. 

Loki had always assumed that Tony didn’t want kids. He’d never talked about them. And yet, Tony was turning the house inside out to find things that Azalea’s diaper bag couldn’t supply. Things she didn’t really need, like entertainment and stuffed animals. 

Well, maybe the blanket was just so she’d have something else to spit up on. 

Azalea let out a giggle of contentment and Loki found himself smiling along. 

Just then, he glanced up to see Tony entering the room, multiple blankets secure in his arms. 

 

Tony’s footsteps lagged as he spotted Loki. The smile on Loki’s face was so soft, so content. And he looked—fuck, Tony had never really understood the whole paternal kink thing before, but he thought he got it now. There was just something about that nurturing look on Loki that sucked Tony in. 

“Here,” he said, awkwardly setting a pile of blankets down. 

“She only needs one,” Loki said. He snagged a red blanket from the middle, turning the whole pile into a wrinkled mess. 

“Loki!” Tony scolded, trying to keep his voice low. He didn’t know how easily babies startled. He figured it was very. Loki just stuck his tongue out at Tony in reply, laughing.

His laughter made Azalea laugh. Short, joy filled noises that bubbled up and overflowed. 

And that just made Loki laugh harder. 

Tony tried to wipe the dumb look off his face. But Loki looked so wonderful. It was all just so—domestic and wonderful. 

Which he had never ever once in his life thought about wanting. 

Kneeling down, Tony smoothed out the blanket that Loki had picked. “This is okay, right?” 

 

The way that Tony was smiling to himself, it was almost painful. Loki smoothed out the corner closest to him. “It’s fine,” he said, setting Azalea down. She crawled forward towards Tony, then slumped down in front of him. Alarmed, Tony reached out, then hesitated as if he was afraid of touching her. “She’s fine,” Loki said. “She just started crawling. She’s still building muscle.” 

Sure enough, Azalea lifted her head and smiled up at Tony. A big glob of drool fell from her chubby chin. 

“Are you sure Thor’s her dad?” Tony asked. Loki smirked. 

“Pretty sure,” he said. “I’m just as surprised as you are that she doesn’t have an eight pack yet.” 

Tony picked a toy off the floor, shaking the brightly colored plastic rings. He set them in Azalea’s pudgy outstretched hand. A loud cooing noise burst from her mouth as she rattled them. 

Tony grinned. And something in Loki’s brain clicked. 

Tony was _good_ at this. Sure, he didn’t know how half of it worked, and he’d thought that he could feed Azalea bites from their own dinner instead of her food, but he had the ability. A lot of it. 

An uneasy knot sunk in Loki’s stomach. 

 

For a while they sat there, playing with toys and acting like Azalea’s every movement was a small miracle. 

That burst when she started crying. They both smelled the problem before they could even think to check. 

“Shit,” Loki muttered. 

“Can you say that in front of a baby?” Tony asked. 

Loki rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t even recognize her name yet. It’s fine.” He went to pick her up, reaching back for the diaper bag too. 

“I can do it,” Tony said. 

Loki glanced up, the surprise clear as day. “I want,” Tony said, shuffling forward a little. He had to try. Loki obviously loved Azalea, he babysat her at every chance. He had to try. “To give it a shot. I can’t just leave you with all the hard stuff.” 

“Okay,” Loki said. He watched Tony with poorly concealed amusement, as if waiting for him to back out of it. 

Tony held his breath as Loki handed a diaper over, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. 

 

By the time that Loki had coached Tony through the diaper change, the truth was obvious.

Tony wanted kids. How the fuck had he missed that? 

Loki watched Tony try to engage Azalea with a new toy, mumbling baby talk. Tony looked so happy and carefree. Every time she made a new sound his eyes lit up. The knot in Loki’s stomach tightened. 

He loved Azalea, but that didn’t mean that he wanted one of his own. 

But how in the hell was that fair to Tony? 

Tony was obviously good at this. He should have a kid.

Loki laid down on his side behind her on the rug, propping his head up on one elbow. He kept his attention focused on Azalea, forcing himself to be distracted like the world depended on it.

 

Bag of dicks. 

That’s what he was. A huge, sweaty bag of dicks. 

The way that Loki was smiling at Azalea, fuuuuck. He looked so natural lying on the rug behind her, encouraging her to crawl. And it didn’t help that he was doing it with his frickin’ tattoos and punk rock hair. It was too fucking good. Loki deserved to have kids. It made him so happy.

Tony hated himself. 

He’d gotten through the diaper change just fine, thank you very much, but it had pretty much confirmed that he did not want to spend a solid year doing it. Two? Three? Good god, how long did that process take? What if the kid took even longer?! 

Loki drew his knees in towards himself, the blanket bunching up under his jeans. He grinned freely, looking every part the doting uncle that he was. Fuck. He’d babysat all the time, of course he was obsessed with Azalea, but Tony hadn’t realized how serious it was until now. 

What was wrong with Tony? Why didn’t he want kids? How could he tell Loki no, a kid wasn’t in the picture, when Loki was so fucking good at it? 

He really was a bag of dicks.

 

When Azalea grew bored of the toys, she started to fuss. By the time that Loki had gotten her bottle, she was screaming and crying in Tony’s arms. They both acted sort of panicked, but she was placated enough by the bottle. Loki sat on the couch with her as she drank. 

Tony’s mood had dimmed. Loki figured it was from the screaming. “She does that a lot,” Loki said, trying to soothe him. “She’s always loud.” 

Tony’s lips twitched. He didn’t seem to pleased about that, but then he quickly changed. “She must get that from Thor.” 

“Watch it,” Loki warned fondly. Tony watched him for a moment before sitting down next to him. Rubbing at his eye with the palm of his hand, Tony simply nodded. “She’ll probably want to sleep after this,” Loki said. “It’s getting close to her bedtime.” 

“Where are we going to put her?” 

“She can sleep in the crib.” That didn’t seem to clear anything up. “The thing folded up in that big bag they carried in with her?” 

“I know that,” Tony said, almost offended. Loki set his free hand on Tony’s thigh, being careful not to drop Azalea. 

Feeling guilty, Loki offered, “Did you want to hold her?”

“Uh—” Tony pressed his lips together, then dropped his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess.” They were careful as Loki passed her over, though she wasn’t pleased at all to be moved. She smacked Tony with the bottle a couple of times before going back to drinking. “She’s cute,” Tony said. 

“Yeah.” Loki ran his fingers back through his hair. “Want to see what’s on TV?” 

“Won’t that keep her up if she’s sleeping?” 

Loki shook his head. “I watch TV while she’s sleeping all the time.” He got up from the couch, stretching. “I’m going to grab her travel crib and set it up.” When Loki came back, Azalea was playing with an empty bottle. Loki quickly got the crib up and ready, but as soon as she saw it, she started to fuss. 

Loki took her from Tony, cradling her in his arms and murmuring to her until she calmed down. He flipped on the TV. “You pick something out,” he said, watching as Azalea fought off sleep. Thinking that she wasn’t going into the crib, she gave in to heavy eyelids. 

Loki glanced up. Some children’s program was on. “Not this,” Loki said. “She’s literally sleeping.” 

“Yeah, but I can’t put something where someone’s getting their head blown off.” 

“I didn’t say to do that,” Loki answered. He set Azalea down in the crib, then leaned across Tony and stole the remote. “The creepy antique show or whatever is fine.” 

“The one where they fix up classic cars then,” Tony said.

Loki sighed, but he’d take it if it meant he wasn’t watching some baby genius crap programming. 

 

Thor and Jane were noticeably soft spoken when they came in, and seemed dead set on getting Azalea out of the house without waking her. They weren’t so lucky. When Loki and Tony shut the door behind them, they could still hear Azalea’s shrieking. For a moment they simply stood there. 

More screaming. A car door closing, and an engine starting. Silence after the car drove off. 

Loki turned around awkwardly, avoiding a glance towards Tony and the knot in his stomach. “So,” Tony said uncomfortably. “That was—fun,” he said, failing to make the last word sound as enthusiastic as he’d meant. 

“Yeah.” Loki’s fingers got caught in the hair behind his ear. He held them there, massaging the base of his skull, before letting go. Tony was watching him too closely. 

Tony wasn’t sure how to play it. He didn’t want to ruin Loki’s perfect evening if that’s what this was, but he couldn’t miss the awkwardness between them either. Loki must’ve thought that he didn’t want kids and was disappointed. “How, uh—how many cousins is Azalea going to get?” 

Loki’s face scrunched in confusion. His hand returned to his hair. “If she has siblings, they’re not her cousins.” Loki smiled playfully, but it felt like it was at Tony’s expense. “They’re her brothers or sisters.” 

Tony scowled. Loki had to be playing dumb on purpose, avoiding it because he didn’t want Tony to disappoint him. Maybe Tony could handle one. No. No, he didn’t like the feeling of that thought at all, but… “I meant your kids,” Tony said. 

Loki’s arms crossed over his chest. “My kids? Who said anything about my kids?” He laughed, but neither of them found it funny. Loki took a step backwards. 

“You don’t—want kids?” Tony asked, trying not to get carried away on hope. 

Loki’s arms clenched in tighter towards himself. If he didn’t tell Tony now, he’d never have a better chance. Things would get out of control. He had to tell. 

And anyway, couldn’t Tony just look at him and tell? Exactly what part of his appearance screamed parent material? Dads didn’t have knives inked on their arms. Loki grimaced at the memory of his own father. 

“No,” Loki said. “I’m sorry, Tony, I don’t—”

“Thank god!” Tony’s exclamation cut him off. “I thought—” Tony took a huge, deep breath, dropping his head back. “I really fucking thought you wanted kids and I was feeling like a bag of dicks because—”

“I thought you wanted them!” Loki’s arms dropped to his sides as he stepped in closer to Tony. “I thought you wanted them because you were trying so goddamn hard—”

“Because I thought you wanted them!” Tony threw his arms around Loki, squeezing him. “I am so relieved!” Loki held him back just as tightly. 

“Fuck, I couldn’t spend the rest of my life running after a kid,” Loki said. “I love her, but I’m always ready to be done at the end of it when they pick her up, you know?” 

“Yes!” Tony agreed. “I mean, she’s cute and I liked playing with her on the blanket, but I’m glad to be having my own bed to sleep in with no crying babies tonight. How long do they take to potty train? God, could you imagine?” 

Loki laughed. “I don’t know,” he admitted. They came apart, but didn’t step away from each other. “It’s a huge fucking commitment, and I’m happy as an uncle. I don’t need to be a dad.” 

Tony shook his head. “I don’t want the responsibility,” he said. “I’ve got this massive company to run, and I don’t want to lose my lab time, and I—shit, think about what would happen to our personal time.” Tony grabbed Loki’s hip. “I couldn’t leave a kid with a nanny all the time either. The guilt would eat me alive.” 

“So no kids then?” Loki confirmed. 

“None,” Tony smiled. His free hand wandered around Loki’s hip, then joined the other so that he was holding Loki at the small of his back. “But,” Tony said, eyes on Loki’s chest. “Look, I don’t want to have kids or anything, that’s not why I’m saying this, but you _did_ make a good parent tonight, Lo. You were really good with her.” 

“So were you,” Loki said. He was smiling when Tony looked up. “Aside from the whole not knowing what the hell you were doing thing—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony cut him off. Loki rested his arms along Tony’s shoulders, grinning. 

“You were though,” Loki said, forehead tilted down and _almost_ touching Tony. 

Tony smirked. It felt good to know that. 

“And you’re positive you don’t want one of your own,” Tony said, needing to check. 

“One hundred percent,” Loki answered. He rocked on his feet a little. “Think. We can still have sex anywhere we want in the house and none of the outlets have to be baby proofed.” 

Tony closed the gap between them. “It was really the outlets part that made up my mind.” Loki laughed. Tony smiled with him, relieved. 

“I’m okay with babysitting though,” Tony said. “With you.” 

“Good,” Loki said. “Because I don’t think I’m going to let you get out of it now that I know you’ll actually do half the work.” 

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s her uncle’s job,” Tony said. “Want to go enjoy the perks of a kid free house?” He quickly added, trying to avoid the immediate thought that _that_ might not always be a title exclusive to Loki. 

“Which one?” Loki asked. “Are we going to go plug something into the wall or find a creative surface to fuck on?” The way he coyly made them sound on par with each other had to be a sin. 

“Why not both?” Tony rested his chin on Loki’s chest, grinning up at him. 

“I guess that can be arranged,” Loki answered, contented by the warmth of holding Tony against him. 

A house of two was just right.


End file.
